Another Major, Another Shutout: What’s Wrong With American Women’s Golf?
The fifth and final major of the women’s golf season has come and gone, and there was something similar about each of them.
An American LPGA player didn’t win any of them.
Zero. None. Zilch. A complete shutout.
That makes nine straight majors without a U.S. winner, dating back to Nelly Korda’s victory at the 2024 Chevron Championship.
Since then, four different Japanese players have won major titles: Yuka Saso, Ayaka Furue, Mao Saigo and, most recently, Miyu Yamashita at the AIG Women’s Open in Wales.
Yamashita, 24, had never won a tournament outside Japan before capturing her two-shot win last weekend.
The 2025 major ledger shows two champions from Japan (Saigo and Yamashita), two from Australia (Minjee Lee and Grace Kim), and one from Sweden (Maja Stark). Four of the five were first-time major winners; Lee picked up her third career major at the Women’s PGA Championship.
While Yamashita cruised to her win, just three Americans shot par or better. Megan Khang tied for sixth at 6 under, Andrea Lee tied for 11th at 3 under, and Lauren Coughlin tied for 13th at 2 under.
Korda was nowhere near the top. She shot 3 over and tied for 36th, failing to shoot below 70 in any round.
She also fell from the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time since March 2024, ending her 71-week reign. That mark ranks fifth all-time behind Lorena Ochoa (158 weeks from 2007–10), Yani Tseng (109 from 2011–13), Jin Young Ko (100 from 2019–21), and Lydia Ko (85 from 2015–17).
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul is now No. 1. Though she has never won a major, Thitikul tied for fourth at the Women’s PGA and finished second at the Evian Championship — enough to vault her to the top of the rankings.
Korda, meanwhile, hasn’t been the same player in 2025. She tied for second at the U.S. Women’s Open, but her last two major performances were a tie for 43rd at the Evian and 36th at the Women’s Open.
She hasn’t won a tournament this year and has four finishes outside the top 20. While she does have four top-five finishes, the calendar says August — and time is running out.
Korda remains the face of the American LPGA contingent, but another expected star, Rose Zhang, hasn’t broken through either.
Zhang took time off to focus on her studies at Stanford and missed the Chevron Championship due to a neck injury. She also missed the cut at the Women’s Open — her second missed cut in a major this season.
In the other two majors, Zhang finished 73rd at the Women’s PGA and tied for 35th at the Evian Championship. It’s a far cry from 2023, when she posted three top-10 finishes and looked like the next American star.
Allisen Corpuz had her breakout moment in 2023 by winning the U.S. Women’s Open, and followed that with a tie for fourth at Chevron and a tie for sixth at the Women’s Open.
But since then, she hasn’t made much noise. Her missed cut last week marked her fourth in a major over the last two seasons, and her Open title remains her only LPGA win.
We’re not going to dig into the weeds of American LPGA players, but let’s just say it’s not an impressive bunch right now.
Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez and JoAnne Carner are not walking through that door.
The global dominance of the majors just might be something American fans will need to get used to.
Three Teams That Screwed Up 2026 NFL Draft
Red Sox Fire Alex Cora: What It Means for Boston’s Future
What the NBA Draft Should Learn From the 2026 NFL Draft
Best Betting Picks for Saturday’s NBA Playoff Matchups
Four Teams That Are Winning 2026 NFL Draft So Far
- MLB Best Bets Today: Strikeout Props and Total Plays to Target
- NBA Playoffs Betting Picks: Game 3 Predictions & Best Bets
- NBA Playoff Picks: Rockets vs Lakers & Spurs vs Blazers Best Bets
- MLB Betting Picks Today: Two Expert Picks for Tuesday’s Slate
- NBA Playoff Picks: Best Bets for Nuggets vs Timberwolves & Knicks vs Hawks
- Best Value Betting Picks Ahead of 2026 NFL Draft
- UFC Winnipeg Betting Picks: Best Bets for April 18th Card
